The great variety of modulation confpicuous in English verfe, will be found upon trial to arife. chiefly from the paufes and accents; and therefore thefe circumftances are of greater importance than is commonly thought. There is a degree of intricacy in this branch of our fubject, and it will require fome pains to give a distinct view of it. But we must not be difcouraged by difficulties. The paufe, which paves the way to the accent, offers itfelf first to our examination. From a very short trial, the following facts will be verified. Ift, A line admits but one capital paufe. 2d, In different lines, we find this paufe after the fourth fyllable, after the fifth, after the fixth, and after the feventh. These particulars lay a folid foundation for dividing English heroic lines into four forts, diftinguished by the different places of the pause. Nor is this an idle diftinction. On the contrary, unlefs it be kept in view, we cannot have any juft notion of the richness and variety of English verfification. Each fort or order hath a melody peculiar to itself, readily distinguishable by a good ear; and, in the fequel, I am not without hopes to make the cause of this peculiarity fufficiently evident. It must be observed, at the fame time, that the pause cannot be made indifferently at any of the places mentioned. It is the fenfe that regulates the pause, as will be feen more fully afterward; and consequently, it is the fenfe that determines of what order every line muft be. There can be but one capital mufical paufe in a line; and this paufe ought to coincide, if poffible, with a paufe in the fenfe; in order that the found may accord with the fense.

What is faid must be illuftrated by examples of each fort or order. And firft of the paufe after the fourth fyllable:

Back through the paths || of pleafing sense I ran

Again,

Profufe of blifs and pregnant with delight
After the 5th:

So when an angel || by divine command,
With rifing tempefts || fhakes a guilty land,
After the 6th:

Speed the foft intercourse || from foul to foul
Again,

Then from his clofing eyes || thy form shall part
After the 7th:

And taught the doubtful battle || where to rage
Again,

And in the fmooth defcription || murmur still

Befide the capital paufe now mentioned, other inferior or femipauses will be difcovered by a nice ear. Of these there are commonly two in each line; one before the capital paufe, and one after it. The former is invariably placed after the first long fyllable, whether the line begin with a long fyllable or a fhort. The other in its variety imitates the capital paufe. In fome lines it follows the 6th fyllable, in fome the 7th, and in fome the 8th. Of these the femipaufes take the following examples.

Ift and 8th:

Led through a fad || variety of wo.
Ift and 7th:

Still on that breast || enamour'd | let me lie

VOL. II,

E

2d

2d and 8th:

From storms a fhelter || and from heat | a fhade

2d and 6th:

|a

Let wealth | let honour wait the wedded dame 28 and 7th:

Above all pain || all paffion | and all pride

Even from these few examples, it appears, that the place of the last femipaufe, like that of the full paufe, is directed in a good meafure by the fenfe. Its proper place with refpect to the melody is after the eighth fyllable, fo as to finish the line with an Jambus diftin&tly pronounced, which, by a long fyllable after a short, is a preparation for reft. If this hold, the placing this femipaufe after the 6th or after the 7th fyllable, muft be directed by the fenfe, in order to avoid a paufe in the middle of a word, or betwixt two words intimately connected; and fo far melody is juftly facrificed to fenfe.

In difcourfing of the full paufe in an Hexameter line, it is laid down as a rule, That it ought never to divide a word. Such licence deviates too far from the connection that ought to be betwixt the paufes of fenfe and of melody. And in an English line, it is for the fame reafon equally wrong to divide a word by a full paufe. Let us juftify this reafon by experiments.

A noble fuper fluity it craves

Abhor, a perpetuity should stand

Are these lines diftinguishable from profe? Scarcely,

I think.

The fame rule is not applicable to a femipaufe, which being fhort and faint, is not fenfibly disagreeable when it divides a word.

Relentless

Relentless walls | whofe darkfome round | contains
For her white virgins || hyme neals fing
In these deep folitudes || and awful cells

It must however be acknowledged, that the melo dy here fuffers in fome degree. A word ought to be pronounced without any reft betwixt its component fyllables. The femipause must bend to this rule, and thereby vanisheth almost altogether.

With regard to the capital pause, it is fo effential to the melody, that a poet cannot be too nice in the choice of its place, in order to have it full, clear, and diftinct. It cannot be placed more happily than with a pause in the fense; and if the fenfe require but a comma after the fourth, fifth, fixth, or feventh fyllable, there can be no difficulty about this mufical paufe. But to make fuch coincidence effential, would cramp verfification too much; and we have experience for our authority, that there may be a pause in the melody where the fenfe requires none. We must not however imagine, that a mufical pause may be placed at the end of any word indifferently. Some words, like fyllables of the fame word, are fo intimately connected as not to bear a separation even by a paufe. No good poet ever attempted to feparate a substantive from its article: the dividing fuch intimate companions, would be harsh and unpleafant. The following line, for example, cannot be pronounced with a paufe as marked.

If Delia smile, the flow'rs begin to spring

But ought to be pronounced in the following

manner.

If Delia fmile, the flow'rs begin to fpring.

If then it be not a matter of indifferency where to make the pause, there ought to be rules for determining what words may be separated by a pause, and what are incapable of such separation. I fhall endeavour to unfold thefe rules; not chiefly for their utility, but in order to exemplify fome latent principles that tend to regulate our taste even where we are fcarce fenfible of them. And to that end, it feems the eligible method to run over the verbal relations, beginning with the moft intimate. The first that presents itself, is that of adjective and fubftantive, being the relation of substance and quality, the most intimate of all. A quality cannot exift independent of a fubftance, nor is it feparable from it even in imagination, because they make parts of the fame idea; and for that reafon, it must, with regard to melody, be disagreeable, to bestow upon the adjective a fort of independent existence, by interjecting a paufe betwixt it and its fubftantive. I cannot therefore approve the following lines, nor any of the fort; for to my tafte they are harsh and unpleasant.

Of thousand bright || inhabitants of air
The fprites of fiery || termagants inflame
The reft, his many-colour'd robe conceal'd
The fame, his ancient perfonage to deck
Ev'n here, where frozen | Chastity retires
I fit, with fad || civility, I read
Back to my native || moderation flide
Or fhall we.ev'ry || decency confound
Time was, a fober || Englishman wou'd knock
And place, on good | fecurity, his gold
Tafte, that eternal || wanderer, which flies.
But ere the tenth || revolving day was run
First let the juft || equivalent be paid

Go, threat thy earth born || Myrmidons; but here

Hafte